Fruit juice and pulp extractor

ABSTRACT

A rotary fruit and juice extractor has pairs of holding cups pivotally mounted to a rotating frame. A rotatable reamer is associated with each cup. Cams pivot the cups from a fruit loading position, to a fruit slicing position and then to a reaming position as the frame rotates. Reamer cams drive the reamers into and out of the fruit halves held within the cups as the frame rotates.

This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 700,621, filed May 15, 1991 and now U.S. Pat. No. 5,188,021,the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The field of the invention is fruit juice extractors.

In processing fruit, especially citrus fruit, to make fruit juices andother fruit products, the fruit pulp must ordinarily be accessed throughthe fruit peel or rind. Typically, this is achieved by slicing the fruitin half and then reaming, or by crushing the fruit pulp within the peel.However, the fruit peel generally contains bitter oils and other peelcomponents which are undesirable in fruit juices or other fruitproducts. Accordingly, it is advantageous to avoid liberating peel oilsand components during processing.

Deformation of, or excessive pressure applied to the peel increases thechances of liberating these undesirable peel components into the juice.These components can be released from the inside of the peel (albedo),as well as from the outside (flavedo). Some existing juice extractorscan impart excessive pressures and high impact forces on the fruit peel.This has become a more significant problem in recent years as a resultof the high operating speeds required by modern juice plants.

As harvested from orchards or farms, even a single load of fruit has arandom assortment of fruit size, ripeness, peel condition, and othercharacteristics. This lack of uniformity can create difficulties inprocessing (e.g., handling, slicing, reaming, crushing, etc.) the fruitsince the fruit processing machinery generally cannot be optimallymatched for each random size or other fruit characteristic.

In many known fruit processing machines, the fruit is temporarily heldin position by chutes, holders, cups, etc., for each particularoperation. The fruit is then released and transferred to the nextoperation where the fruit is again secured or held in position by cups,cup fingers, etc., for further processing. The potential for improperhandling of fruit generally increases with an increased number ofholding and releasing steps.

With citrus fruit, the highest quality juice and the juice having thehighest sugar ratio, is found in the fruit pulp closest to the peel.Hence, it is, of course, desirable to extract this highest quality juicefrom the fruit. On the other hand, this highest quality juice isdifficult to extract from the fruit without liberating the abovementioned undesirable peel components, since the best juice and peel areadjacent to each other within the fruit.

Various fruit halving or cutting knives and methods have been known andused in the past with varying degrees of success. However, these knowntechniques can often liberate peel oils and other peel components whichcan be carried into the juice portion of the fruit.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the invention to provide an improved fruit pulp andjuice extractor which efficiently and securely handles fruit throughoutfruit processing operations.

It is another object of the invention to provide a fruit juice extractorwhich extracts the high quality juice adjacent to the peel, withoutliberating peel oils.

In another preferred embodiment, a rotary fruit juice extractor includestwo counter-rotating horizontal turrets and a vertically oriented fruitloader. Fruit supplied by the loader to the turrets is engaged by ahalving knife while exiting the loader. Other and further objects,advantages and features will appear hereinafter.

To these ends, a rotary fruit juice extractor, in a preferred embodimenthas a rotatable frame with a plurality of pairs of fruit holding cupspivotally mounted to the frame. Reamers aligned with the cups are alsomounted on the frame. Cams are most desirably provided for sequentiallypivoting the cups from a fruit-loading position, to a fruit-slicingposition, to a fruit-reaming position, and then back to thefruit-loading position, with rotation of the frame. The reamers arepreferably advanced into fruit halves held within the fruit cups in thereaming position, by cams which advance and retract the reamers withrotation of the rotatable frame. The cams can be varied to achievedifferent reamer programs and dwell times. A plurality of fruit juicefraction collecting sections are provided in a preferred embodimentaround the extractor sectors where reaming occurs. A fruit halving knifehaving a leading point is positioned to centrally engage and slice thefruit held in between the pairs of holding cups.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the drawings, wherein similar reference characters denote similarelements throughout the several views:

FIG. 1 is a side section view fragment of the present rotary fruit juiceextractor;

FIG. 2 is a schematically illustrated top view thereof;

FIG. 3 is an end view of the present halving knife of the invention;

FIG. 4 is a side elevation view fragment thereof;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged side view fragment of the halving knife;

FIG. 6 is a schematically illustrated side elevation view of a prior arthalving knife;

FIG. 7 is a section view fragment taken along line 7--7 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 8 is a section view fragment taken along line 8--8 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 9 is a section view fragment taken along line 9--9 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 10 is a section view fragment taken along line 10--10 of FIG. 2;and

FIG. 11 is a section view fragment taken along line 11--11 of FIG. 2with FIGS. 7-11 showing cup and reamer positions as the extractor turnsthrough positions A through F in FIG. 2;

FIG. 12 is an enlarged side elevation view fragment of a combinationslicer and reamer;

FIG. 13 is a section view fragment of a second embodiment of the presentrotary fruit juice extractor;

FIG. 14 is a schematically illustrated top view thereof;

FIG. 15 is a schematically illustrated side section view taken alongline 15--15 of FIG. 14;

FIG. 16 is a front elevation view fragment taken along line 16--16 ofFIG. 15;

FIG. 17 is a front elevation view fragment taken along line 17--17 ofFIG. 15;

FIG. 18 is a front elevation view fragment in part section taken alongline 18--18 of FIG. 15;

FIG. 19 is a front elevation view fragment in part section taken alongline 19--19 of FIG. 15;

FIG. 20 is a third embodiment of the present rotary fruit juiceextractor;

FIG. 21 is a schematically illustrated plan view fragment of a coringextractor;

FIG. 22 is a section view fragment taken along line 22--22 of FIG. 21;

FIG. 23 is a section view fragment illustrating the operation of thecapping knife of FIG. 22;

FIG. 24 is a section view fragment thereof showing the coring knifealigned with the fruit pulp;

FIG. 25 is a section view fragment thereof showing the coring andextraction operation;

FIG. 26 is a plan view fragment thereof showing operation of a halvingknife of the coring extractor;

FIG. 27 is a schematically illustrated plan view fragment showing afourth embodiment for fruit pulp extraction and juice reaming;

FIG. 28 is a side elevation view of another preferred embodiment havingtwo turrets counter-rotating in a horizontal plane and a loader rotatingin a vertical plane to feed fruit to the turrets;

FIG. 29 is a partial section view taken along line 29--29 of FIG. 28;

FIG. 30 is an enlarged section view of the first turret station of FIG.29;

FIG. 31 is an enlarged section view fragment of the second turretstation of FIG. 29;

FIG. 32 is a schematically illustrated plan view showing the turretdrive system, the reamer drive system, and the reamer cam elevator drivesystem of the extractor of FIG. 28;

FIG. 33 is a partial section view fragment taken along line 33--33 ofFIG. 31;

FIG. 34 is a side elevation view fragment of the anti-rotation devicesshown in FIGS. 31 and 33;

FIG. 35 is a plan view fragment of the extractor shown in FIG. 28;

FIG. 36 is a schematic illustration of the sequencing of the extractorof FIG. 28; and

FIG. 37 is a schematically illustrated section view fragment of theloader of FIG. 28.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Turning to the drawings, as shown in FIG. 1, a fruit juice extractor 30has a hopper 36 attached to a rotary frame 42. Fruit 34 are providedfrom a feed chute 32 into the hopper 36. The hopper 36 has tubularmagazines 38 equally spaced apart about its circumference. With a hopperof approximately 36 to 42 inches in diameter, preferably 24 tubularmagazines 38 are provided. Within each tubular magazine 38 is anescapement 40 to regulate the fruit flow or movement through themagazines. The escapement 40 allows one fruit to pass out of the lowerend of the tubular magazine 38 with each revolution of the extractor 30.A housing 44 and juice trough 46 are provided around the lowercircumference of the rotary frame 42.

A pair of pivoting cups 48 is associated with each tubular magazine 38.Preferably, the cups 48 are made of a resilient material to cushion thefruit. Ridges or grooves are provided on the inside surface of the cups48 to prevent the fruit from spinning within the cups 48 during reaming.Allowing fruit to spin in the cups would tend to disadvantageouslyrelease peel oils.

Each cup 48 is mounted on a pivot pin 50 supported by an armature 58attached to the rotary frame 42. Referring momentarily to FIG. 7, theinner and outer cup 48 of each pair of cups are preferably identical andare centered horizontally below the magazine 38 with cup pivots on thesame horizontal centerline M. Referring once again to FIG. 1, a driverod 52 has a rack segment 54 engaging a pinion segment 56 at the back ofeach cup 48. The drive rods 52 are supported through drive rod supports60 passing through the rotary frame 42. Rollers 62 at the lower end ofthe drive rods 52 roll on cup pivot cams 96 on a cam base plate 92 fixedto the stationary housing 44.

A reamer 64 is aligned and associated with each cup 48. Each reamer 64is supported on a reamer shaft 68 passing through the rotary frame 42.Gears 74 are attached to the reamer shafts 68, with the inner reamershaft gear engaging a sun gear 78 and also meshing with a like outerreamer shaft gear. The reamers 64 and shafts 68 are grouped in pairs tomatch the pairs of cups. The lower ends of each pair of reamer shafts 68are secured to a shaft plate 72 through bearings 70. A cam roller 76under each shaft plate 72 rolls on a reamer advance cam 94 supported bycam elevators 128 on the cam base plate 92. A sun gear drive shaft 84 isattached to the sun gear 78. The shaft 84 is supported within thehousing 44 by bearings 82. The cam elevators 128 are positioned underthe reamer advance cam 94 and are linked to a processor 144 and anoptical color detector 142 which form a system for maintaining reamingdepth, as shown in FIG. 11.

The reamer advance cam 94, as well as the cup pivot cams 96 arecircumferentially formed about the center of cam base plate which alsocorresponds to the center of rotation of the frame 42. The cams 94 and96 have "lobes" or relatively raised portions about their diameters, forcontrolling the vertical movement of the cup drive rods 52 which pivotthe cups 48, and for controlling the advance and retraction of thereamers, respectively. The left side of FIG. 1 shows the cup pivot cams96 and reamer advance cam 94 at low points such that the cups arepivoted upwardly (loading position) and the reamers are retracted. Theright side of FIG. 1 shows the highest points on the cams with the cups48 driven to a face down (reaming) position and the reamers 64 fullyadvanced or extended. The weight of the components keeps the camfollower rollers 62 and 76 in constant rolling contact with the topsurface of the fixed cams 94 and 96.

A frame drive shaft 80 passes through clearance holes in the sun gear 78and sun gear drive shaft 84 and rotatably supports the frame 42. Theframe 42 is driven through a frame drive gear 86 linked to an electricmotor. The sun gear 78 is driven by drive gear 110 linked to anothermotor or drive source such that the sun gear 78 and rotary frame 42 areseparately rotatable at different speeds. While the extractor couldoperate with the sun gear fixed in position (i.e. with a single motor ordrive source) since the frame 42 preferably spins at approximately 30R.P.M., the reamers 64 would generally spin below the preferred knownreaming speeds for most fruit. Juice chutes 98 are provided to channeljuice from the juice pans 46.

Turning to FIGS. 2-5, a halving knife assembly 100 includes a halvingknife 102 and a fruit half retainer plate 104. The halving knife 102 hasa knife center point 122 and diverging knife edges 124. The halvingknife assembly 100 is attached to the housing 44 in between the innercup circle 146 and outer cup circle 148 of pivoting cups 48. The knifecenter point 122 is positioned to generally engage the center of thefruit 34 as the frame 42 rotates. As best shown in FIG. 2, the fruithalf retainer plate 104 has reamer engagement slots 106 extending intoits back surface. Also shown in FIG. 2 are first, second and third juicefraction pans 112, 114 and 116 which are separated by pan dividers 120along the reaming sectors of the perimeter of the extractor 30. A peeleject juice pan 118 is provided adjacent to the third juice fraction pan116.

Turning to the operation of the rotary fruit juice extractor 30, withreference to FIGS. 1, 2 and 7, fruit 34 is loaded into the hopper 36which rotates with the frame 42 within the fixed housing 44. The fruit34 moves via gravity into the tubular magazines 38. The escapement 40allows a single fruit to fall through the tubular magazine 38 with eachrevolution of that magazine into the fruit loading sector of theextractor 30, generally designated at A in FIG. 2. As the magazine movesthrough the fruit loading sector A, the cups 48, fixed in polar positionwith respect to the magazine 38, are pivoted to an upfacing fruitloading position P to accept a fruit from the magazine 38. The radialspacing d of the cup pivot centers is determined by the size of fruit tobe processed and the cup size and style.

The pivoting movement of the cups 48 is achieved by the cup pivot cams96 forcing the drive rods 52 upwardly as the rollers 62 ride around thecup pivot cams 96. The rack 54 on each drive rod 52 meshes with thepinion segment 56 on each cup 48, causing each cup to pivot about apivot pin 50. The fruit 34 is released by the escapement and falls fromthe magazine 38 through slot 132 in housing 44 into the pair of cups 48aligned with the magazine. Since the hopper 36 and cup pairs 48 aremoving together, there is no relative movement between them.

Referring to FIGS. 2 and 8, as the frame 42 continuously turns, the cups48 next start to rotate downwardly to encompass and hold the fruit 34,again under the control of the cup pivot cams 96 driving the drive rod52 and rack and pinion segments 54 and 56. As the cups approach thehalving knife 102 (sector B in FIG. 2), they are positioned slightlydownwardly. Specifically, the axis of each cup PL as shown in FIG. 8 inthis slicing position S are angled approximately 5°-10° belowhorizontal. In this position, a small gap 147 is formed between thefacing cups 48. The fruit falls into the gap 147 and automaticallycenters itself. The gap 147 is deep enough so that the fruit is notaffected by centrifugal force (approximately 0.5 g's at 30 rpm for a 36inch diameter hopper) generated by the rotation of the frame 42. Thepoint 122 of the halving knife 102 is vertically positioned below thecup pivot centerline M, to engage the center of the fruit after thefruit has dropped into the gap 147. The cups 48 pass by the halvingknife 102 and the fruit 34 is sliced into fruit halves 35 in sector C ofFIG. 2, and as shown in FIG. 4. The halving knife 102 has a radialcurvature, as shown in FIG. 2, such that it slices through the fruit ona curved path. This slightly curved halving of the fruit does not effectthe fruit processing.

After halving, as the cups 48 move with rotation of the frame 42 throughsector D in FIG. 2, they pivot downwardly once more, again driven by thecup pivot cam 96, drive rod 52, and rack and pinion segments 54 and 56.The fruit halves 35 are very briefly held within the cups 48 against thefruit half retainer plate 104, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 and especiallyFIG. 9. (For clarity of illustration, the cups 48 are not shown in FIGS.3 and 4.)

As the cup pairs 48 enter to sector E with the continuous rotation ofthe frame 42, they have been pivoted fully downwardly into the reamposition RM and are engaged by the reamers 64 as shown in FIG. 10. Thereamers 64 gradually rise through sectors D and E as the cam rollers 76on the reamer shaft plates 72 roll on the reamer advance cam 94. Thereamers 64 continue to rise through the reamer engagement slots in thefruit half retaining plate 104 and engage the fruit halves 35 as theymove into sector E.

The reamer advance cam 94 can be designed to provide a linear singlespeed reamer engagement into the fruit halves. With this type ofreaming, juice reamed from the initial penetration will collect in thefirst fraction pan 112, juice reamed from the middle of the pulp of thefruit halves 35 will collect in the second juice fraction pan 114, andjuice reamed from the pulp closest to the peel will collect in the thirdjuice fraction pan 116. These separate juice fractions having differentcharacteristics can then be drawn off for further processing, mixing orpackaging. The reamer advance cam 94 can also be designed for othertypes of reamer engagement, to produce different juice fractions. Forexample, the reamer could undergo a quick initial engagement of thefruit half 35, with a slower engagement as the peel is approached.Alternatively, the reamer 64, as controlled by the reamer advance cam 94could undergo a slow initial approach, a quick advancement through thecenter portion of the fruit half 35, and then a slow approach once moretowards the peel. The reamer advance cam can also provide a dwell at thepoint of maximum reaming. Various other reamer advance programs can beaccomplished by appropriate configuration of the reamer advance cam 94.These various advance programs can all be accomplished as a result ofthe relatively long path available for the reaming operation.

Referring to FIGS. 2 and 11, as the cups 48 move from the reaming sectorE to the peel eject sector F, the reamers 64 are withdrawn from the cups48. The fruit peels generally remain in the cups at this point. Anoptical color sensor 142 detects the color of the inside of the passingreamed fruit peels 37. The optical color sensor 142 is linked to aprocessor 144 which preferably is programmed with a target color range.The optical color sensor, under the control of the processor, reads thereamed fruit half color from several fruit peels. A position sensor maybe provided to supply timing pulses to the processor, so that theprocessor can determine the proper intervals for reading color inputsfrom the color sensor.

The processor 144 compares the detected color with the target colorrange which is preferably selected somewhere in between an "over-reamed"white peel color and an "under-reamed" orange colored peel cavity. If,after sensing several peel cavities, the detected color is sufficientlyover or under the target color range, the depth of reamer penetrationinto the fruit halves is automatically readjusted to an optimum byselectively adjusting the position of the cam ring plate 92 through camelevators 128. The optical color sensor 142, processor 144 and camelevators 128 are thus linked together to form a system 180 forautomatically maintaining proper fruit reaming depth.

In reaming type juice extractors, a change in peel thickness has asignificant effect on the quantity and quality of the juice removedduring reaming. Peel thickness can vary over a wide range in loads offruit from different geographic areas. Thick-skinned fruit will usuallyundergo excessive reaming, with all juice and membrane being removed,leaving only white albedo exposed inside the reamed fruit half. On theother hand, thin-skinned fruit will not be reamed as thoroughly, leavingsome juice bearing pulp material in the fruit half. Nevertheless, theforegoing system 180 can provide proper reaming for both thick skinnedand thin skinned fruit.

Referring once again to FIGS. 2 and 11, as the cups 48 move further intothe peel eject sector F, they pass over a peel ejector 136. The peelejector slots 108 in the cups 48 provide clearance for the ejector 136.The peel ejector 136 is preferably a wire bar or prong attached to thehousing 44. The peel ejector 136 strikes the peels 37 and causes them tofall out of the cups 48. A wire grid 149 covers a peel eject juice pan118 which collects whatever juice falls away from the peels 37. Thepeels 37 pass through a peel chute 140 and are removed from theextractor 30. The design shown in FIG.1 rotates at approximately 30 rpmand processes about 720 fruit per minute.

In FIGS. 1, 2 and 7-11, all components shown spin with the frame 42,except for the chute 32, housing 44, juice pans 112, 114, 116, peeleject pan 118, grid 149, dividers 120, cam base plate 92, halving knifeassembly 100, peel ejector 136, and the system 180 for automaticallymaintaining reamer engagement depth, including the optical sensor 142.The embodiment of FIG. 1 can also be modified into a fixed frameextractor. In such a modified embodiment, the frame cups, reamers andmagazines remain in a stationary non revolving position. The knifeassembly, cams, conical center section of the hopper, peel ejector andoptical color sensor revolve about or within the frame. The operation ofthe fixed frame embodiment is similar to the rotating frame embodimentof FIG. 1, although collection of separate juice fractions would requirerevolving juice collection pans.

Referring to FIGS. 5 and 6, in known juice extraction machines, fruit istypically cut in half with a halving knife, prior to juice extraction.These known halving knifes are generally of the blade and cuttingconfiguration 126 shown in FIG. 6. At point J in FIG. 6, the cuttingforce is high as the flat edge of the knife blade 126 breaks through thepeel. From point J to points K in FIG. 6, i.e., halfway through thefruit, peel oils and other peel components are forced into the pulp orjuice area of the fruit, potentially degrading juice quality.

With the present knife shown in FIG. 5, at point G where the knife point122 first enters the fruit 34, the puncture force is extremely low, suchthat there is a minimal tendency to liberate peel oils. From point G topoints H in FIG. 5 (an arc on the fruit of perhaps only 60°) the knifeforces are from the outside towards the inside. From points H to thecompletion of the cutting, the knife forces are from the inside to theoutside. Accordingly, the present halving knife as shown in FIG. 5 tendsto force peel oils and components away from the fruit pulp during mostof the halving cycle. This helps to prevent undesirable peel componentsfrom entering the pulp from which juice will be subsequently extracted.A combination slicer and reamer 150 as shown in FIG. 12 can be used in arotating extractor, or in other applications or machines. Thecombination slicer and reamer 150 has a radiused slicing knife 152attached to a knife drive tube 158. The knife drive tube 158 isrotatably supported by a rotary frame 176 or some other structure. Aknife shaft gear 172 is attached to the knife drive tube 158 and mateswith a drive gear 174. A knife cam follower 166 supported on the knifedrive tube 158 through a bearing 178 rides on a knife cam 164.

A reamer 156 is supported on top of a reamer shaft 160 which extendsthrough the knife drive tube 158. A spline 162 slidably connects thereamer shaft 160 to the knife drive tube 158. A reamer cam follower 170is attached to the reamer shaft 160 through a bearing 179. The reamercam follower 170 rides on a reamer cam 168. The reamer 156 has a knifeslot 154 to accept the slicing knife 152.

In operation, a fruit is held in position, for example in a cup 48 of anextractor 30, above the reamer 156. The knife cam 164 and reamer cam 168are arranged so that the slicing knife 152 first advances, from theretracted position RE to the extended position EX, into the fruit (notshown), with the reamer 156 remaining in position. As the slicing knife152 advances into the fruit, it slices into and removes most of thefruit pulp, with a spiraling inward cut. The pulp falls away forcollection. The curvature of the slicing knife 152 is generally set tomatch the curvature of the fruit. After slicing, the slicing knife 152returns from the extended position EX to the retracted position RE, asshown in FIG. 12. In the retracted position RE, the slicing knife 152 iswithdrawn into the knife slot 154 and does not protrude above theprofile of the reamer 156.

The drive gear 174 is turned by a motor or other drive source, which inturn drives the knife shaft gear 172 and causes the knife 152 to spin.The knife drive tube 158 drives the reamer shaft 160 through the spline162, so that the slicing knife 152 and reamer 156 spin together,although they advance and retract or axially apart from each other.

The reamer cam 168 then advances the reamer 156 into the fruit to reamjuice from remaining pulp not sliced away by the slicing knife 152. Thejuice falls to collection points (not shown) for separation and removalfrom the machine.

While the embodiment shown in FIG. 12 contemplates use of thecombination slicer and reamer in a rotary machine in a vertical positionas shown, other uses and positions may also be preferred. For example,the combination slicer and reamer can also be oriented horizontally oroff vertical and springs can be added to tension the knife drive tube158 and reamer shaft 160 against the knife cam 164 and the reamer cam168, respectively.

A fixed cup embodiment extractor 200 is shown in FIG. 13. In thisembodiment, the cups 204, preferably made of a soft resilient material,are attached to a frame top plate 206 and do not pivot or rotate withrespect to the frame top plate. A vacuum/air supply 202 is connected tothe cavity 208 of each cup 204 through openings 210. Reamers 64 aresupported on reamer shafts 66 having splines 220 slidably attaching themto gears 74. A cam plate 224 drives cam rollers 76 to move the reamers64, similar to the embodiment of FIG. 1.

As shown in FIGS. 13-19, a dead plate assembly 212 includes a halvingknife 214 attached to a dead plate 216. The dead plate assembly is fixedto the non-rotating housing 44. A loading ramp 218 having 2 longitudinalslots is also fixed to the housing 44. A sun gear 222 drives the shaftgears 74. The sun gear 222 is relatively thin as it remains in constantvertical alignment with the shaft gears 74 as the reamer shafts 66advance and retract with rotation of the frame 42. In contrast, in theembodiment of FIG. 1, the drive gears 74 are fixed (against movement inall directions) to the reamer shaft 66, such that the drive gears 74move up and down along the relatively thick sun gear 78, as the reamersadvance and retract.

A spreading ramp 228 is attached at least indirectly to the frame 42 andis positioned in between each pair of cups 204. Cup fingers 230 extenddown from the back of each cup 204 and are aligned to pass through theslots in the loading ramp 218.

Juice fraction pans are provided around the outside of the reamingsectors of the extractor 200.

In operation, the fruit passes from the hopper 36 into the magazine 38and is metered by the escapement 40. However, as shown in FIGS. 14 and15, in extractor 200 the fruit 34 falls onto a dead plate 216 and isadvanced with rotation of the frame 42 into the halving knife 214 whichpasses through slots in the magazines 38 to slice the fruit 34 in half.

The fruit halves 35 fall from the dead plate 216 over a spreading ramp218 which reorients the fruit halves to a face down position on theloading ramp 218. The cup fingers 230 drive the fruit halves 35 up theloading ramp 218 and into the cups 204. Vacuum is applied to help holdthe fruit halves into the cups. At the same time, the reamers 64 areadvancing, such that at position L where the loading ramp 218 ends, thereamers 64 are engaging the fruit halves 35 and hold them in place.Reaming, depth control, dwell and adjustment, and peel ejectment canthen be achieved as described above for the pivoting cup embodiment 30.Air pressure supplied to the cups can also provide peel ejectment.

FIG. 20 shows a rotating cup extractor 240 similar to the extractor 200shown in FIG. 13. In the embodiment of FIG. 20, a sun gear 242 drivescup drive gears 244 attached to cups 246. Reamers 248 do not spin butadvance and retract on the cam plate 224.

In the manufacture of some fruit products, it is desirable oradvantageous to obtain large pieces of fruit pulp. A coring extractor250 which extracts a fruit pulp core in a single pieces is shown inFIGS. 21-26. As shown in these figures, cups 252 are attached to cupdrivers 262 which move the cups together and apart, to alternately holdand release a fruit 34. A capping knife 254 has upper and lower cappingblades 256 and 258. A cylindrical coring knife 266 is attached to acoring knife spin drive and advance mechanism (not shown). An ejector268 is slidably positioned within the coring knife 266 and is linked toan ejector actuator (not shown).

In operation, the cup drivers 262 close the cups 252 around a fruit 34,as shown in FIGS. 21 and 22. The capping knife 254 is then advanced,with the upper and lower blades 256 and 258 slicing fruit caps 265 fromthe fruit 34, and exposing the fruit pulp, top and bottom, as shown inFIG. 23. The capping knife 254 is retracted and the capped fruit isbrought into alignment with the coring knife 266, as shown in FIG. 24.

The spinning coring knife 266 is advanced into and through the cappedfruit, thereby cutting away a pulp core 271. After the coring knife 266has passed entirely through the capped fruit, the ejector 268 isadvanced to eject the fruit core 271 from the coring knife 266, as shownin FIG. 25. The ejector 268 and coring knife 266 are withdrawn from thecored fruit and a halving knife 264 advances through the cored fruit inbetween the cups 252, as shown in FIG. 26. The cup drivers 262 move thecups 252 apart and the cored fruit halves are ejected from the cups, inpreparation for receipt of another fruit.

The coring extractor 250 can be configured into a rotary design similarto the designs shown in FIGS. 1 and 13, with cams operating the cupdrivers 262, capping knife 254, coring knife 266, ejector 268 and thehalving knife 264. Alternatively, the extractor 250 can also be used invarious non-rotating extractor configurations.

Rotary fruit and fruit juice extractors having horizontally orientedcups have been known and used in the past. FIG. 27 shows an improvedhorizontal combination slicer and reamer 280. Horizontal cups 284 areattached to a rotatable cup ring 282. A slicer wheel 286 is fixed inposition within the cup ring 282 on a slicer wheel arm 294. The slicerwheel has a plurality of slicers 288 rotated by a slicer drive 290within the slicer wheel 286. The slicers 288 may be similar to theslicing knife 152 shown in FIG. 12. A ream wheel 302 is mounted on areamer wheel arm 310 positioned at a fixed angle from the slicer wheelarm 294. A plurality of reamers 304 are equally spaced apart and extendradially outwardly from the reamer wheel 302. A reamer drive 306 spinsthe reamers 304. The spacing between each slicer 288 on the slicer wheel286 and each reamer 304 on the reamer wheel 302 is set to correspond tothe spacing between the cups 284 on the cup ring 282.

In operation, fruit halves (not shown) are loaded into the horizontalcups 284 which are moving with the cup ring 282. The slicer wheel 286and reamer wheel 302 remain fixed in position with respect to each otherand to the extractor housing, while the cup ring 282 rotates about them.The slicer wheel 286 and reamer wheel 302 are rotated about their axesby a slicer wheel drive 292 and a reamer wheel drive 308.

The fruit halves first pass by the slicer wheel 286 and a slicer 288slices fruit pulp from the fruit half. With rotation of the cup ring282, the fruit half then proceeds to the reamer wheel 302 and a reamer304 reams the fruit half.

Another preferred embodiment 400, as shown in FIGS. 28 and 29, includesa fixed frame 402 having feet 404. Stanchions 406 support a first turretstation 408 and a second turret station 410. A loader 412, rotatableabout a horizontal axis, is centrally positioned in between the firstturret station 408 and the second turret station 410. An inlet hopper414 is attached to the loader 412. The loader 412 and hopper 414 aresimilar to those shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,887,062, incorporated hereinby reference.

Referring to FIG. 30, the first turret station 408 includes a innerdrive shaft sprocket 420 bolted on to an inner drive shaft 424 rotatablysupported within a bearing pedestal 416 by inner shaft bearings 428 and430. An outer drive shaft sprocket 422 attached to an outer drive shaft426 is rotatably supported within the bearing pedestal 416 by bearings432 and 434, independently of the inner drive shaft 424. For clarity ofillustration, drive chains around the sprockets have been omitted. Afirst turret 482 in the first turret station 408 rotates on the bearingpedestal 416 and principally includes a reamer carrier 502, a cupsupport plate 524 and a bearing plate 522.

Referring to FIGS. 30 and 31, an annular reamer cam 444 is supported onthe frame 402 within each of the turret stations 408 and 410. Fourreamer cam adjustment elevators 446 are equally spaced around thediameter of each reamer cam 444. Referring to FIGS. 30-32, elevatorsprockets 448 attached to the reamer cam adjustment elevators 446 areconnected by an elevator chain 450. Idler sprockets 464 guide andtension the elevator chain 450. The reamer cam adjustment elevatorsextend or retract (e.g. via screw threads) with rotation of the elevatorsprockets 448. An elevator chain drive 466 engage to the elevator chain450 is controlled to turn in either direction to simultaneously extendor retract each of the reamer cam adjustment elevators 446 to raise orlower the reamer cam 444 in both turret stations. Accordingly, theelevator chain drive 466 can be used to raise or lower the reamer cam444, thereby adjusting the depth of reamer engagement into the fruit.Hence, compensation can be made for fruit loads having varying peel andpulp characteristics. The elevator chain drive may be controlledmanually or automatically as part of an automatic adjustment systemlinked to sensors and a control processor.

Referring to FIGS. 30-32, a turret drive chain 452 links a first motorsprocket 456 on a drive motor 460 to the inner drive shaft sprocket 420,for rotatably driving the first turret 482. A reamer drive chain 454connects a second motor sprocket 458 on the drive motor 460 to a secondturret reamer drive sprocket 440, and to the outer shaft drive sprocket422 in the first turret station 408. A reamer drive chain idler sprocket462 is positioned in between the first and second turret stations,generally aligned with the drive motor 460.

Referring to FIG. 30, the reamer carrier 502 is attached to the innerdrive shaft 424 by means of carrier mounting hub 500. As shown in FIGS.30-32, a first ring gear 470 attached to the bearing plate 522 in thefirst turret station 408 meshes with a corresponding second ring gear472 of equal diameter in the second turret station 410. The first andsecond turrets 482 and 484 accordingly turn in opposite directions atequal speed, when driven by the drive motor 460. The meshing ring gears470 and 472 provide a fixed and relatively precise angular registrationbetween the turrets.

As shown in FIG. 28, upwardly projecting reamers 498 are equally spacedabout on the reamer carrier 502, on the first and second turrets. In theembodiment shown 16 cups are used, although more or less cups could beused. Referring to FIG. 30, each reamer 498 is attached to the top endof a reamer shaft 496. The upper end of the reamer shaft 496 isrotatably supported by a reamer shaft bearing 508 within a reamercarrier tube 506 extending through and fixed to the reamer carrier 502.A reamer shaft gear 510 on each reamer shaft 496 meshes with a reamerdrive sun gear 474 supported on the outer drive shaft 426. The lowersection of the reamer shaft 496 extends into and rotates within a lowerslide tube 512. A bushing 514 extending through the bearing plate 522supports the slide tube 512 but allows it to shift vertically.

A reamer spring adjustment 476 attached to the slide tube 512 engagesthe flat bottom end of the reamer shaft 496 with a low frictionengagement, to facilitate automatic load adjustment for each reamer 498,to control reaming force or pressure.

A cam roller axle 494 attached to the slide tube 512 rotatably supportsa cam roller 492 which rolls on the reamer cam 444. An upper cam rail490 with supports 488 overlies the reamer cam 444 over the downward camslope to insure reamer retraction.

Referring to FIGS. 30, 33 and 34, an anti-rotation plate 516 is attachedto an anti-rotation plate holder 518 on the outside of each slide tube512, opposite to the axle 494. Each anti-rotation plate holder 518 has aslot 520 for slidably holding the trailing edge of an adjacentanti-rotation plate 516. The anti-rotation plates prevent turning of theslide tubes resulting from the reaction of driving the reamer shafts496, without interfering with vertical travel of the slide tubes as theyshift vertically while moving around on the reamer cam 444.Consequently, the rollers 492 remain aligned on the reamer cam 444.

Referring to FIGS. 30 and 35, a cam plate 530 on top of each turretstation is fixed to the non-rotating frame 402. A cup cam track 532 isprovided on the underside of the cam plate 530. Cups 542 are equallyspaced about on and pivotally attached to a cup support plate 524 by apin 546 passing through the cup 542 and spacers 544 extending downwardlyfrom the cup support plate 524. The back end of the cup 542 has a gearsegment 548.

As shown in FIG. 30, a cam roller 534, associated with each cup 542,tracks within the fixed cup cam track 532. The cam roller 534 isattached to a radially displaceable toothed rack 536 slidably supportedwithin a rack glide support 540 preferably made of a low frictionmaterial. As the turret turns, the cam rollers 534 move through the cupcam track 532, moving the racks 536 radially inwardly and outwardly, topivot the cups 542 to the appropriate position at each angularorientation of the turret. A juice pan 504 surrounds the reamer carrier502 to collect extracted juice. The juice pan 504 is advantageouslyapproximately 0.50 inch apart from the reamer carrier. Peel eject andcollection features similar to those previously described areadvantageously also included. Slots 554 are provided on the reamercarrier to allow juice and pulp to pass into juice pan 504 and to insurethat no peel can come into contact with juice. Spaced apart vertical webplates 418 are attached, preferably welded, to the cup support plate524, the reamer carrier 502, the carrier hub 500 and the bearing plate522.

Referring to FIGS. 28 and 35, a halving knife 550 is attached to theframe 402. The point 552 of the halving knife 550 is positioned forwardor in advance of the centerline L--L of the turrets by dimension K,which preferably is approximately one half of a typical fruit diameter,generally 1-3 inches. The second turret station 410 is generallyidentical in design concept and symmetrical to the first turret station408 but does not have an inner drive shaft sprocket as it is driven bythe ring gears 470 and 472.

As shown in FIGS. 28 and 37, the loader 412 includes equally spacedapart radially projecting paddles 560 rotatable about an axle 576, asupport plate 562 and roller 564 to move fruit from the hopper topockets 574 in the loader, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,887,062.However, vanes 566 are provided in the rotating conical section 568 ofthe loader 412, to accelerate the fruit to the rotating speed of theloader while the fruit is still in the hopper.

In operation, generally round fruit, such as oranges or grapefruit, areloaded into the hopper 414. Within the rotating conical section 568 ofthe loader 412, the fruit is driven by the vanes 566 into a circularmotion. The fruit are then immediately available to be transferred topaddles 560 and loaded into the extractor cups 542. The action of thevanes improves performance over the loader of U.S. Pat. No. 3,887,062 asthe pockets are more uniformly filled with fruit and fewer pockets cyclethrough empty.

Referring to FIG. 32, the drive motor 460 is turned on and spinscounterclockwise (all turning directions referred to are when viewedfrom above). The turret drive chain 452 around the first motor sprocket436 drives the inner drive shaft sprocket 420 and the inner drive shaft424. The inner drive shaft 424 in turn, through the carrier mounting hub500 and the bearing plate 522 turns the reamer carrier 502. Hence, theentire first turret 482 (principally comprising the reamer carrier 502,cup support plate 524 and bearing plate 522, and all other componentsattached to them) is turned counterclockwise. The first ring gear 470turning with the first turret meshes with the second ring gear 472 todrive the second turret clockwise. The turrets are advantageously drivenat about 40 RPM, although other speeds are possible. Preferably, thefirst motor sprocket has 18 teeth and the inner drive shaft sprocket 420has 48 teeth.

Referring still to FIG. 32, the reamers 498 preferably are all driven atthe same speed and in the same direction. The second motor sprocket 458turns with drive motor 460 and drives the reamer drive chain 454.Consequently, the second turret reamer drive sprocket 440 and the outerdrive shaft sprocket 422 on the first turret turn counterclockwise. Inthe first turret station, the outer drive shaft sprocket 422 turns theouter drive shaft 426 which in turn drives the sun gear 474counterclockwise. The sun gear 474 meshing with the reamer shaft gears510 drives the reamers 498 clockwise on the first turret.

As shown in FIGS. 31 and 32, similarly, the reamers on the second turretare driven clockwise by the sun gear 474 which is mechanically linked tothe drive sprocket 440 by an inner drive shaft. The counterclockwiseturning first turret subtracts from the reamer rotation speed while theclockwise turning second turret adds to the reamer rotation speed. Tocompensate for this effect, the second turret drive sprocket, preferablyhaving 36 teeth, is larger than the outer drive shaft sprocket 422,which preferably has 21 teeth. As shown in FIG. 32, an idler sprocketwith 18 teeth is also provided. These sprocket size selections willcompensate for the additive/subtractive effect on reamer rotation speedresulting from the counter-rotating turrets and will result in uniformreamer rotation speeds on both turrets. Of course, many other mechanicalequivalents may be used. The sun gear 474 is sufficiently tall to stayconstantly meshed with the reamer shaft gears 510 over the entire rangeof vertical travel of reamer shaft gears 510 as the reamer shaft movesup and down as driven by the reamer cam 444.

Referring to FIG. 28, slicing or halving of the fruit is enhanced as thepoint of the halving knife 550 is positioned to engage the fruit whilethe fruit is still being pushed by the paddle 560. As the fruit halfslides off of the halving knife 550, it is picked up, in timed sequence,by a cup 542, which is pivoted to a horizontal position, as shown inFIG. 30. As the cup holding the fruit half moves away from the loadingposition at the halving knife, the cup cam track 532 causes the cup 542to pivot downwardly. Simultaneously, the reamer 498 associated with thecup 542 is driven upwardly towards to the fruit half, by the reamer cam444. A transfer plate prevents the fruit half from falling out of thecup 542 prior to the time the fruit half is engaged by the reamer 498.Referring to FIG. 36, the cups dwell at the reaming position to extractjuice from the fruit half and then retract while the cups pivot to apeel eject position, prior to restarting the cycle at the load position.

The extractor 400 offers advantageous performance as the loader 412transports the fruit in the same plane as the halving knife, therebyensuring that the fruit is cut on center. The point of the halving knifeactually penetrates the fruit while it is still driven by the feeder. Inaddition, since each of the stations on the first and second turretscarries only half of each fruit, precise peel ejection is achieved andeach peel half is positively thrown into a peel discharge area with nolikelihood of the peel contacting juice surfaces. The dual turretconfiguration with the feeder turning on a horizontal axis also lendsitself to extremely easy and thorough clean up.

Thus, while several embodiments have been shown and described, it willbe apparent that many other modifications may be made without departingfrom the spirit and scope of the present invention.

What is claimed is:
 1. A fruit loader and juice extractor comprising:aframe; a first turret and a second turret rotatably supported by theframe; a plurality of reamers and pivotable cups on the first turret andon the second turret; turret drive means for rotating the first turretand the second turret in opposite directions; and a fruit feederpositioned over the first and second turrets for feeding fruit into thepivotable cups.
 2. The loader and extractor of claim 1 furthercomprising a halving knife supported by the frame in between theturrets.
 3. The loader and extractor of claim 1 further comprising meansfor pivoting the cups with rotation of the turrets.
 4. The loader andextractor of claim 1 further comprising means for moving the reamers andcups vertically together and apart with rotation of the turrets.
 5. Theloader and extractor of claim 1 further comprising vanes within arotatable conical section of the loader.
 6. The loader and extractor ofclaim 1 further comprising reamer rotation means for rotating thereamers.
 7. The loader and extractor of claim 2 further comprising apoint on the halving knife positioned approximately 1-3 inches inadvance of a centerline bisecting the turrets.
 8. The loader andextractor of claim 3 wherein the means for pivoting comprises a rollerwithin a cam track, the roller attached to a toothed slide rack engaginga gear segment on the cups.
 9. The loader and extractor of claim 4wherein the means for moving comprises a reamer cam supported by theframe.
 10. A fruit juice extractor comprising:a frame; a first turretrotatably supported on the frame; a second turret rotatably supported onthe frame adjacent to the first turret; a plurality of spaced apartreamers extending upwardly from the first turret and the second turret;a plurality of spaced apart pivoting cups supported on the first andsecond turrets, with each pivoting cup aligned with a correspondingreamer; a halving knife supported by the frame substantially between thefirst turret and the second turret; turret drive means for turning theturrets in opposite directions; reamer drive means for turning thereamers; reamer advance means for relatively moving the reamers and cupsvertically towards and away from each other; and cup pivot means forcyclically pivoting the cups with rotation of the turrets.
 11. The juiceextractor of claim 10 wherein the turret drive means comprises a motorlinked to the first turret and a gear on the first turret meshed with agear on the second turret.
 12. The juice extractor of claim 10 whereinthe reamer drive means comprises a motor linked to the reamers on thefirst and second turrets and reamer speed compensation means for drivingthe reamers on the first and second turrets at substantially the samespeed.
 13. The fruit juice extractor of claim 10 wherein the reameradvance means comprises for each reamer a tube rotatably supporting areamer shaft attached to the reamer, a reamer cam roller rotatablyattached to the tube, and a reamer cam supported on the frame andengaging the reamer cam roller.
 14. The fruit juice extractor of claim13 further comprising a reamer cam elevator system including a pluralityof reamer cam elevators positioned under the reamer cam and a linkagefor linking the reamer cam elevators together for simultaneousoperation.
 15. The fruit juice extractor of claim 13 further comprisinganti-rotation links connecting adjacent tubes.